Me Monster!

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Why are we so selfish? If you think about it the very first sin started from selfishness! Eve wanted to be like God~!



Genesis 3:1-6



3 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.



Have you ever thought about that? Our lives are consumed with me, me, me! We are starting a new study at church called "Seven daily sins" by Jared Wilson. Some of these thoughts this morning are coming from this study. In the study Jared says this Me Monster has a name and it is Pride. Jesus had an answer for pride:



Luke 9:23

23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.



If we deny selves and put Jesus first in everything I can promise you pride will not be a factor! Christ humbles us when we put Him first.



Pride is basically self-worship. Look at how Satan tempted Jesus:



Matthew 4:1-11

4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’

and,



‘In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”

11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.



I want you to notice a couple of things here of how this temptation of Jesus and the temptation of Eve have in common.



1. Satan told Jesus to turn stones to bread, Satan tempted eve with the fruit. Both events appealed to the appetite. Satan is good at tempting us with things that appeal to our appetite both physically and mentally.(Not just food either!)



2. Satan tempted Jesus to call the angels to appeal to His deity. Satan tempted Eve to "be like God". Again we are me oriented so if we think we can be like God, we want to go for it!



3. Satan tempted Jesus with the kingdoms of the world and their appeal. Satan tempted Eve with the fruit which was "delightful to look at". Oh aren't we a coveting kind of people? We want what the world has to offer!



Notice how Jesus countered Satan's offers, He quoted scripture! This once again shows the importance of knowing God's Word! Pride tells us "I am God and can do whatever I want." The scriptures show us God is God and we are nothing before Him. But He loves us and the truth will set us free!



So think on this some today. Does the Me Monster of Pride have a hold on you? Think before you answer because it may have more of a hold on you than you can imagine!



Tom